The man, who says he's looking for a dog that ran away, seems nice enough -- very nice, in fact. But the minute this 7-year-old girl gets into his car, her childhood is lost forever.

It's hard to recommend a film about child abuse. It's even harder for a film about this awful subject to get the subject right. We've seen two just this year -- "Towelhead" and "Hounddog" (also known as the "Dakota Fanning rape movie") -- that were often wretched beyond belief.

"Gardens of the Night" is the noted exception to that woeful trend because it tells its story without affectation or attitude. Assuming that its audience already knows that pedophilia is a bad thing, it tells its story simply, from the point of view of a little girl named Leslie, who doesn't understand what it means to be abducted or sexualized.

A quick note here to those concerned -- the very young actress who plays Leslie (Ryan Simpkins), and the young boy who plays Donnie, her partner in captivity (Jermaine Smith), were purposely kept in the dark about this film's subject matter. Nothing particularly graphic is depicted in the film. It's hardly necessary. "Gardens of the Night" is plenty disquieting thanks simply to the power of suggestion.

Tom Arnold

"Gardens of the Night"
3 stars
This film is rated R for disturbing content involving sexual exploitation of a child, language, sexual content and some drug use. 110 min.

The film's primary pedophile, Alex, is played by Tom Arnold, in a quiet, understated, yet powerful performance that works to earn our revulsion. While Arnold is perhaps best known as a celebrity punch line, he's been doing some fine character work in films lately; this role marks a minor career high for him.

Alex is aided by the "bad cop" in this scenario, the younger Frank (Kevin Zegers), who informs Leslie and Donnie, "You want in on a little secret? Your mommy and daddy don't want you anymore." Arnold's character gives Leslie a phone number where, he says, her father can be reached. Of course, the number is bogus, and eventually Leslie throws the number away. It breaks your heart.

About halfway in, the movie lurches ahead to find Leslie and Donnie in their late teens, living on the street somewhere in southern California. Leslie, now played by Gillian Jacobs, trolls the truck stops, doing what she has to, while Donnie (Evan Ross) pines for her. This portion of "Gardens of the Night" hasn't the power of its first half, even with the addition of a dialed-down John Malkovich as a counselor who informs Leslie that her parents do in fact still want her.

For one, movies about idle, wasted teens aren't exactly a novelty; filmmaker Gus Van Sant has practically made a career on them. The only thing that sets "Gardens of the Night" apart here, and nominally at best, is our knowledge of how these two teenagers wound up here.

The movie ends predictably, perhaps as it must, with Leslie reuniting with her long-lost parents, who now have two new young children. At first glance we found this scene to be woefully miscast, as Leslie's parents appear way too young for the characters. Then it dawned on us. Leslie, given the life she's led since being lost, is many years older than her parents in simple life experience, and always will be. Their reunion is awkward and brief.

While it may be difficult to tout a movie about child abuse, "Gardens of the Night" is a poweful reminder that pedophilia is perhaps the most selfish crime a person can commit. If anything is unforgivable, it's this.

IN NEXT WEEK'S AWE: Todd Hill's chat with Tom Arnold about his against-type performance in "Gardens of the Night."